One More Time, with Feeling
by Lovely Doom
Summary: The war is over, and Ichigo is leading a normal life, until he is tricked into going back to Soul Society. Karin is left in the real world alone, when the Hollows begin attacking again. What's with Ukitake's weird gift? What's really going on here?


**Disclaimer: **I am writing this for fun, I do not own the rights, and I am not selling or making profit from this.

**One More Time, with Feeling**  
By Lovely Doom

**Chapter 1**

Kurosaki Ichigo set his school bag down on his desk for the last time. Graduation was supposed to feel like a relief, but the young man felt only emptiness. It had been years since he had had a purpose; in a way defeating Aizen had ruined his life. The wounds from the final death-match had faded to scars, but the wounds that came after, the severing of ties from Soul Society, those were still hurting. He glanced at his empty closet. At least school had given him something to do.

"Oi, Ichi-nii," Karin leaned in the doorway, foot on a soccer ball. Her pixie features somehow belied the tom-boy image. "When are you getting out of here? I'm excited to finally get my own room."

"In a few, shorty." Karin made a face as her brother tousled her hair.

"You know, I'm not exactly a kid anymore. I'm older than you were when.."

_When you became a Shinigami_.

A silent tension ran through them. Karin hadn't meant to bring it up.

"You're still short," Ichigo teased, and the siblings smiled, glad to move onto safer ground.

"MY SON!" Kurosaki Isshin pushed past his daughter, and jumped for Ichigo, landing face down on the floor when his attack was dodged with the grace of years of practice. The weeping man was not deterred in the slightest. "Oh, Masaki! If only you were alive, you would see what a man our son has become! I remember when he was just two years old and he wet the bed every night.."

"Watch it old man!"

Karin snickered, and noticed the box tucked under her father's arm. "Why did you even come up here? Is that for me?"

"No, this is a graduation gift, which just arrived, for my grown up son. Although it means he will leave me all the sooner, and never speak to his poor dejected father again, I brought it straight away, such is the depth of my fatherly love.."

"Oh just give it to me," Ichigo snatched the box away and tore off the lid. He pulled out the note from the top and was silent.

"Well, who's it from?" Karin tried to peek into the box, but whatever was inside was underneath a mound of tissue paper.

"No one," he replied distantly. "I'd like to be alone for a minute."

"It must be a… a girl!" Isshin gasped.

"Don't get weird ideas, crazy old man!" Ichigo ushered his father and Karin out the door and sat on the bed with trembling hands to read the note. After all these years, it was a letter from Soul Society.

_To Mr. Kurosaki Ichigo,_

_How are you? The weather in Soul Society is beautiful these days, I wish you could enjoy our specialty spring time noodle dish. _

_For a graduation gift, I wanted to create a life-sized statue of you, perhaps brandishing your _zanpakutou _in a heroic pose, but then I had a better idea. As my gift to you, I give you one of my low-ranking underlings, Kuchiki Rukia, in life-long servitude to your house. She is useless to us here in Soul Society, so I give her to you to do with as you will. Enclosed is something of hers to ensure my good faith._

_Ta,_

_Ukitake Juushirou, 13__th__ Division Captain_

Ichigo read the letter a second time, and with a slack jaw pulled out what lay hidden inside the box.

"What the _hell_?"

Author's Note: I hope you like this! It's set as if Hueco Mundo is the end of the series, and may diverge from the actual story line after a time. It will feature pairings between Ichigo/Rukia, and my favorite filler-episode inspired crack pair: Karin/Hitsugaya. Hehe. If anyone's interested, I would like someone to beta-read, especially if you can help me with little details from the plot of the anime. I want to get them right, but not enough to watch it all again.

I also hope that no one has used this plot before. I haven't read any like this, but if someone did write something similar, I mean no infringement.


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